Dave Prentishttp://www.newstatesman.com/writers/dave_prentis
enhttp://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/11/public-sector-workers-pay
<div class="field field-name-field-subheadline field-type-text-long field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Raising pension contributions is a hardship tax on public sector workers to pay down the deficit.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-node-image field-type-image field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><figure class="clearfix field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-fullnode-image" src="http://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/styles/fullnode_image/public/articles/2011/20111126_117700721_w.jpg?itok=EFEnxifd" width="510" height="348" title="width" /></figure></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <!-- Generated by XStandard version 2.0.0.0 on 2011-11-30T15:15:51 --><p><sup>A man walks past a sign held by striking public sector workers on June 30, 2011</sup><br /><sup><em>Source: Getty Images</em></sup></p>
<p>Millions of public sector workers are gearing up for the biggest strike in living memory. Government ministers have pushed paramedics, teaching assistants, dinner ladies, nurses and social workers into taking action with their unprecedented attack on pensions.</p>
<p>We are strong, united and determined in our action - and we know we can count on the wider Labour movement for support. <a href="http://www.unison.org.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onkeypress="window.open(this.href);return false;">UNISON</a> has said from the start that we want to reach a negotiated settlement, and that still stands. UNISON is willing to take part in scheme specific talks, right up until 30 November and beyond - we want a firm offer.</p>
<p>Our members voted decisively for action, but it's not a decision that they took lightly. Most UNISON members are low paid women in the caring professions. They go to work day in, day out, to make their communities better places in which to live and work. Indeed, with pay frozen at a time of stubbornly high inflation, and with Christmas just round the corner, they can ill afford to lose a day's wages. Their vote shows the colour of their anger over ministers' pensions plans to make them work longer and pay more, all for less in their retirement, coming on on top of heavy job and service cuts.</p>
<p>Public sector workers have already been stung by promises made in Parliament that were never delivered. In his first Emergency Budget, George Osborne promised public sector workers earning less than £21,000 a £250 pay boost - easing the pain of the pay freeze. But for low paid local government workers, this money has never materialised. They've been stuck on the pay freeze for two years, which could stretch to three, stretching family budgets to the limit.</p>
<p>There is no public sector pensions crisis - only four years ago, unions negotiated new schemes to make them affordable and sustainable for the long term. The schemes include a cap and share arrangement in health, so that any increase in costs would have to be borne by employees. The reforms also included a higher retirement age of 65, and other measures including higher contributions from members of between 5 and 8%.</p>
<p>These reforms have meant that the cost of public sector pensions, as a proportion of GDP, will fall, costs have been reduced even more by the switch to using CPI rather than RPI to calculate the annual increase in pensions payments. Both the health and local government schemes are in good shape, with billions more coming in than has to be paid out in pensions every year. The local government scheme also provides a huge boost to the private sector, its funds are worth £140 billion, and own 1.75% of the UK's top FTSE companies.</p>
<p>Under the proposals, the low paid will receive only just enough to keep them above the threshold for means tested benefits when they do retire. The average pension in local government is £3,800 a year, but for women, it's less than £2,800 - just £56 a week. More than half of women pensioners in the NHS receive a pension of less than £3,500 a year.</p>
<p>The real scandal is that two-thirds of private sector workers do not get a single penny from their employers towards their pension, whilst top bosses award themselves generous pensions. It is in no one's interest to see workers in the public or private sector living in poverty and relying on state benefits when they retire - that is just storing up more trouble for the future.</p>
<p>We do not believe a penny of the money raised will go towards pensions - it's nothing but a hardship tax on public sector workers to pay down the deficit. The way to rebuild our economy is not to take more money out of hardworking people's pockets. The austerity agenda is killing growth, boosting unemployment - fuelling the downturn. Our members are striking for their pensions - but their campaign for a fairer economic plan, founded in social democratic principles, will continue long after we reach a deal.</p>
<p><em>Dave Prentis is the general secretary of UNISON</em></p>
</div></div></div>Sat, 26 Nov 2011 12:05:48 +0000Dave Prentis42222 at http://www.newstatesman.comhttp://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2009/04/public-sector-workers-osborne
<div class="field field-name-field-subheadline field-type-text-long field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>George Osborne&#039;s scapegoating public sector workers for the excesses of his friends in the City is o</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-node-image field-type-image field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><figure class="clearfix field-item even"><a href="/uk-politics/2009/04/public-sector-workers-osborne"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-fullnode-image" src="http://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/styles/fullnode_image/public/articles/2009/1050/20090408_prentis_w.jpg?itok=3sGD7zuj" width="510" height="348" alt="" /></a></figure></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>As the eldest son and heir of 17th baronet, Sir Peter Osborne, George Osborne has clearly had a very privileged upbringing. </p>
<p>Clearly out of touch with reality, he tried to deflect attention away from his friends in the City, the bankers and greedy speculators who have dragged this country into the financial crisis, by pounding public sector workers.</p>
<p>It was interesting to see the subsequent back-tracking as this outburst backfired on the Tory Party. However, it gives us a clear insight into Tory thinking and what would be in store should they succeed at the next general election. </p>
<p>His remark that “the age of excess is over” will outrage nurses, paramedics, occupational therapists, midwives, hospital cleaners and cooks – all my members working in the NHS, who have certainly never had an age of excess to get over. </p>
<p>They do not need to be told by the Tories that “we need an age of restraint and responsibility’ it goes with their jobs. Just because they signed up to a three year pay deal, in good faith, it does not make them part of the “debt problem”.</p>
<p>In fact many low paid health workers face long-term debt problems of their own. Last year NHS staff accepted a three-year pay deal, which is worth 2.54 per cent from 1 April this year. </p>
<p>Hardly excessive, it won’t cover the extra cost of everyday essentials such as food, fuel, transport gas and electricity. </p>
<p>A nurse on £22,000 a year or a hospital porter on £14,000 might be forgiven for wondering how this “age of excess” passed them by.</p>
<p>The deal covers more than one million health workers and was agreed through the NHS pay review body. Only recently MPs were awarded 2.33 per cent by their review body, which makes the two awards very similar. This suggests that the deal is not out of kilter with prevailing economic conditions.</p>
<p>The Tories cannot lay the blame for the economic crisis at the door of public sector workers, with or without three-year pay deals. </p>
<p>Local Government workers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have just been offered 0.5 per cent - just 3p an hour for hundreds of thousands of workers.</p>
<p>Instead of piling pressure on public sector workers, the Tories would do well to remember the vital role that local services play during an economic downturn.</p>
<p>In times of recession governments have traditionally turned to public services as their first line of defence. Our government is right to look at preserving jobs and boosting the economy by bringing forward a planned programme of public works – building roads, schools and hospitals.</p>
<p>George Osborne’s plans to make cuts in public spending take the “bulk of the strain” in order to balance the fiscal books is unfair and unworkable. </p>
<p>Public services are essential to the health and wellbeing of people and the quality and stability of local communities. </p>
<p>We are already seeing cuts across the public sector as a result of the recession but Tory plans go much further and would have a devastating impact. They would widen the gap between the rich and poor and create more long-term social instability for all.</p>
<p>Public sector workers were never invited to party on excess- it’s time the Tories told their friends in the City - their party is over.</p>
<p><em>Dave Prentis is General Secretary of UNISON, the UK’s largest public sector union with 1.3m members</em></p>
</div></div></div>Wed, 08 Apr 2009 16:00:24 +0000Dave Prentis163617 at http://www.newstatesman.comhttp://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2008/06/government-workers-inflation
<div class="field field-name-field-subheadline field-type-text-long field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><p>Since 2004 local government workers have had below inflation awards. Their vote in favour of strike</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Next month (July) 600,000 UNISON local government members will take strike action over a 2.45 per cent below inflation pay offer. This is not a decision they take lightly - our members are there to serve the public - but they are facing an unjust pay policy and feel pushed into a corner.</p>
<p>Labour inherited a recruitment and retention crisis in our public services. Morale was low and services were suffering. A lot has been achieved, but we cannot afford to undo this good work. We all want quality public services, but they do not come cheap and workers deserve fair pay and good conditions.</p>
<p>Councils are already struggling to compete for staff with other public and private sector employers – even in low wage areas. If they fall further behind, local authorities will not have the staff to deliver services – let alone work towards making improvements and delivering change.</p>
<p>Local government workers continue to be the poor relations of the public sector. Since 2004 they have had below inflation awards, but the vote in favour of strike action this week underlines the message that you can push people only so far before they say enough is enough.</p>
<p>It is crunch time for our members who provide the every-day services that people rely on - teaching assistants, social workers, care workers, librarians, dinner ladies, lollipop ladies, leisure and parks and garden staff as well as refuse collectors and street cleaners. It cannot be right that 250,000 staff still earn less than £6.50 an hour and they have said clearly they cannot afford to accept another below inflation offer.</p>
<p>Three quarters of council workers are women, who, far from fuelling today’s inflation, are victims of the rising prices of everyday essentials. They are being hit hard by the cost of putting food on the table, spiraling gas and electricity bills and the recent hikes in fuel.</p>
<p>There is not an economist in the country who agrees with Government claims that public sector pay fuels inflation. If the government is serious about tackling inflation they need look no further than the boardroom bonanzas and big city bonuses. They should tackle the corporate greed of the energy<br />companies BP and Shell making £7 billion profit in just three months. </p>
<p>In the meantime local government workers, who have to use their cars for work, are effectively subsidising their employers – they are left out of pocket because fuel prices have overtaken their mileage rates.</p>
<p>It is a disgrace that tens of thousands of public sector workers cannot afford to live in the communities they serve. I said at our conference last week that we reject Brown’s pay policy. We didn’t elect a Labour<br />government to watch its core supporters suffer this way. We don’t want Gordon to feel our pain we want him to stand up and heal it.</p>
<p><em>Dave Prentis is general secretary of <a href="http://www.unison.org.uk/">Unison</a><br /></em></p>
</div></div></div>Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:10:30 +0000Dave Prentis160994 at http://www.newstatesman.com